Kindergarten predictors of first- and second-grade reading achievement

In this study we examined the ability of 6 kindergarten prereading skills to predict later reading achievement. The prereading skills of 102 children were assessed at the beginning, middle, and end of kindergarten, and reading achievement was assessed at the end of first and second grade. Results showed that (1) 4 kindergarten skills (alphabet recognition, concept of word in text, spelling with beginning and ending consonants, and word recognition) effectively predicted success in first-grade reading (R = .77); (2) effective predictions of first- and second-grade reading achievement could be made at the middle of kindergarten; and (3) a phonemic spelling task was superior to an oral phoneme segmentation task in predicting success in beginning reading.